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A nine-month drug investigation called Project Alchemy has led to the seizure of enough precursor chemicals to produce a theoretical yield of 38 million fentanyl pills, police say.

Two Edmonton residents now face numerous charges in the case.

The lengthy investigation began in October 2015, when Canada Border Services Agency officers at Edmonton International Airport intercepted 100 kilograms of a fentanyl precursor chemical called N-phenethylpiperidinone.

The fentanyl pills seized in Leduc County were white and had similar markings to Percocet pills, police said. The pills were confirmed as fentanyl after initial lab analysis, but recent further tests showed the pills also contained W-18.

Fentanyl, an opioid pain killer said to be up to 100 times more potent than morphine, was linked to 274 deaths in Alberta last year.

W-18 is a synthetic opioid with no known clinical use. It is considered to be 10,000 times more powerful than morphine, or about 100 times more potent than fentanyl.

The search of a southeast Edmonton home resulted in the seizure of:

two kilograms of benzylpiperazine (a drug similar to amphetamine);

two kilograms of trifluoromethylphenylpiperazinem (sold on the streets as a drug called ecstasy);